Sleepy Hollow – “What Lies Beneath” Recap. Still Waiting For the Intensity.

Season 2, Episode 16

Air Date: Monday, February 9, 2015 at 9/8c on Fox

Rating: ★★★★★

SPOILERS AHEAD

“What Lies Beneath” falls a bit flat after all is said and done. Ichabod (Tom Mison) and Abbie (Nicole Beharie) must find out what happened to three surveyors after they go missing from deep inside the tunnels beneath Sleepy Hollow. But Ichabod and Abbie are being tailed by one of the missing men’s brother, Calvin Riggs (guest star Sharif Atkins), who happens to be a journalist.

Ichabod and Jefferson have history – Jefferson even credits Ichabod as being a founding father.

The premise of having a secret chamber built by one of our founding fathers, President Thomas Jefferson (guest star Steven Weber), held promise but when Ichabod and Abbie are faced with saving the lives of the two of the three surviving men, things go awry.

I’m fascinated with the whole “Fenestella” chamber and the secrets it holds. When Jefferson, a supernatural hologram projection, tells Ichabod and Abbie everything within the Fenestella will help them through their mission as “witnesses,” I thought this was going to be a major turning point in the plot. Alas, things take a nobler turn as Ichabod and Abbie choose to save lives and destroy the only thing that could give them a leg up in the war against evil. Granted, it’s a tough decision to make and I probably would have made the same choice, but the writers need to step up the intensity and suspense if Sleepy Hollow is going to make it for a third season.

Abbie, you need more than a flashlight to scare of those cannibals.

Abbie, you need more than a flashlight to scare off those cannibals.

There is one aspect of “What Lies Beneath” that provides some fear factor – the things guarding the Fenestella—“…dark, damned souls will be used to protect the Fenestella.” These words, written in Abbie’s ancestor’s journal, do not accurately describe the foul looking, monstrous creatures lurking in the tunnels. The fact that they’re cannibals is also quite disgusting as they feast on one of the three surveyors they yanked into the tunnels.

In other story lines, Frank Irving (Orlando Jones) enlists the help of Abbie’s sister Jenny (Lyndie Greenwood) in order to retrieve his wedding ring from the police department’s evidence room when he was arrested in season one. Of course, this is all a ruse. Is Irving telling the truth when he confides to Jenny about his inability to pass the test Katrina (Katia Winter) did to see if his soul was clean? He claims he used an ancient rune to shield his true nature and it gave him a bit of his humanity back. We know from “Spellcaster” he’s working with Henry (John Noble) but now he says his real purpose is to steal a USB containing off-shore bank accounts to secure his family’s future. I don’t know what’s going on with Irving anymore but this story line intrigues me and saves “What Lies Beneath” from being a total bore.

The real kicker, though, lies with Katrina. She’s been dabbling with the dark side of magic although we don’t see much of that in “What Lies Beneath.” We do see Henry visiting Katrina bearing three black roses. Is he truly repentant for his actions or is this just a dream? Does Henry sense she’s using darker forces to enhance her powers? While it appears this could be a nightmare for Katrina, when the water turns red as she cleans her hands in the basin, perhaps she did get pricked by the thorns on the rose stems. Then she notices the three black roses are on the table behind her when they weren’t there earlier. This does not bode well.

Overall

With only two episodes left, I can only hope we will get into some seriously diabolical dilemmas because this current battle of good vs. evil is beginning to grow stale. I love Sleepy Hollow and the premise of what it was in season one. I’m not sure what happened from the first 13 episodes to these last 16 episodes of the second season, but if things don’t get infinitely dramatic soon, I fear Sleepy Hollow may be a lost cause. And it’s a travesty to have had Webber guest star only to be a hologram and have only a few brief scenes via flashback. He’s such a powerful performer and I feel as though Webber play Jefferson and be the keeper of the Fenestella wasn’t completely thought through.

The writers have an arsenal of material to use to create interesting story arcs. All the research materials from the late Sheriff Corbin (Clancy Brown), the adventures of Jenny and Hawley (Matt Barr) going on scavenger hunts for rare, paranormal artifacts, all of this could be used to really shake things up. And I know there is a backstory to the new Sheriff Reyes (Sakina Jaffery), to which we are not privy. It always seems like she’s hiding something…but what, I cannot say.

What did you think of “What Lies Beneath?” Leave me a comment below and/or tweet me @judybopp.

Tune in to Sleepy Hollow Mondays at 9/8c on Fox.

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Judy Manning

Dream chaser extraordinaire! Judy tends to be a tad sarcastic and kind of goofy! She is an avid admirer of all things supernatural, paranormal, celestial and mystical. She loves to read, write, and watches way too much TV. She enjoys many genres of film and music (and let's be honest, most music from the 80s). She also has a wicked sweet tooth. Cupcakes beware.